: Argentine Ornithology, Volume I (of 2) - P. L Sclater, W. H Hudson (inspirational books to read .TXT) 📗

173. PACHYRHAMPHUS POLYCHROPTERUS (Vieill.). (WHITE-WINGED BÉCARD.)

 

+Pachyrhamphus polychropterus+, _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 56;

      _Durnford, Ibis_, 1878, p. 61 (Buenos Ayres).

 

    _Description._--Above cinereous, upper back blackish; cap shining

    black; wings black, margins of coverts and secondaries white; tail

    black, four outer pairs of rectrices tipped with white; beneath

    cinereous, paler on the middle of the belly; under wing-coverts pale

    grey; bill and feet blackish: whole length 6·5 inches, wing 3·0,

    tail 2·6. _Female_ above dull green, below yellowish; wings margined

    with rufous.

 

_Hab._ South Brazil, Paraguay, and N.E. Argentina.

 

This pretty little bird, the only species of the large South-American

family _Cotingidæ_ with which I am acquainted, comes as far south as

Buenos Ayres, but is very scarce. It lives in woods, and is a shy,

solitary bird with nothing in its flight and general appearance to

distinguish it from a Tyrant-bird. When flying, it utters a whistling

note.

 

In January 1887, Durnford met with a pair of this species of Bécard in

the riverain wood near Belgrano, and secured the male. They were busy

catching flies, making frequent sallies from a willow tree in pursuit of

them. Mr. Barrows obtained three specimens of what was probably the same

bird at Concepcion in Entrerios, in November 1886 (_see_ Bull. Nutt.

Orn. Cl. viii. p. 203).

 

[Illustration: _a._ First primary of a male _Pachyrhamphus_.

               _b._ Second ditto.]

 

In the _male_ of this species, as in many other Bécards, the second

primary is abnormally shortened, being only about one inch in length.

See remarks on this subject in P. Z. S. 1857, p. 72, whence the woodcut

exhibiting this strange feature is taken by kind permission.

174. CASIORNIS RUBRA (Vieill.). (RUFOUS CHEESE-BIRD.)

+Suiriri roxo+, _Azara, Apunt._ ii. p. 128. +Casiornis rubra+, _Scl.

      et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 57.

 

    _Description._--Above uniform ferruginous, lores paler; beneath

    lighter, belly yellowish; bill horn-colour, yellowish at the base;

    feet plumbeous: whole length 6·8 inches, wing 3·4, tail 3·1.

    _Female_ similar.

 

_Hab._ S. Brazil, Paraguay, and N. Argentina.

 

White obtained a female specimen of this bird at Campo Colorado, Oran,

in November 1880; it is now in Sclater's Collection. 

Fam. XVI. (PHYTOTOMIDÆ, or PLANT-CUTTERS.)

 

The peculiar form _Phytotoma_, remarkable for its toothed Fringilline

bill, was associated by the older authors with the Finches. But modern

researches have shown that it is not an Oscinine genus, and that its

true place is near the _Cotingidæ_; indeed, some authors have placed it

within the limits of that family.

 

Of the four known species of Plant-cutters, all restricted to South

America, one is a well-known denizen of the Argentine Republic.

Fam. XVII. (DENDROCOLAPTIDÆ, or WOOD-HEWERS.)

 

The _Dendrocolaptidæ_ are an important family in American Ornithology,

numbering some 220 species, and distributed in greater or less abundance

over every part of the Neotropical Region from Mexico to Patagonia.

Within Argentine limits 46 species occur.

 

While green is the characteristic colour of the _Tyrannidæ_, brown is

the favoured hue of the _Dendrocolaptidæ_, both the forest-loving and

campos-frequenting members of the group being nearly without exception

arrayed in various shades of that sombre colour, to which a ferruginous

tail is a very frequent appendage.

 

The _Dendrocolaptidæ_ fall into four subfamilies, all of which have

representatives in Argentina. These are (1) the _Furnariinæ_, or

Oven-birds, which are terrestrial in habits and have their feet adapted

for this mode of life; (2) the _Sclerurinæ_, or Leaf-scrapers, known by

their spiny tail, which keep to the ground inside the forests; (3) the

_Synallaxinæ_, or Sharp-tails, mostly bush-frequenting birds; and (4)

the _Dendrocolaptinæ_, or Wood-hewers, which have the habits of our

Creepers (_Certhia_), and use their tail as a climbing-organ. All the

members of this great family feed exclusively on insects.

The _Dendrocolaptidæ_ are an important family in American Ornithology,

numbering some 220 species, and distributed in greater or less abundance

over every part of the Neotropical Region from Mexico to Patagonia.

Within Argentine limits 46 species occur.

 

While green is the characteristic colour of the _Tyrannidæ_, brown is

the favoured hue of the _Dendrocolaptidæ_, both the forest-loving and

campos-frequenting members of the group being nearly without exception

arrayed in various shades of that sombre colour, to which a ferruginous

tail is a very frequent appendage.

 

The _Dendrocolaptidæ_ fall into four subfamilies, all of which have

representatives in Argentina. These are (1) the _Furnariinæ_, or

Oven-birds, which are terrestrial in habits and have their feet adapted

for this mode of life; (2) the _Sclerurinæ_, or Leaf-scrapers, known by

their spiny tail, which keep to the ground inside the forests; (3) the

_Synallaxinæ_, or Sharp-tails, mostly bush-frequenting birds; and (4)

the _Dendrocolaptinæ_, or Wood-hewers, which have the habits of our

Creepers (_Certhia_), and use their tail as a climbing-organ. All the

members of this great family feed exclusively on insects.

 

 

Subfam. I. _FURNARIINÆ._

176. GEOSITTA CUNICULARIA (Vieill.). (COMMON MINER.)

 

+Geositta cunicularia+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 405 (Mendoza,

      Paraná); _Scl. et Salv. Nomencl._ p. 61; _Durnford, Ibis_, 1877,

178 (Buenos Ayres), et 1878, p. 395 (Chupat); _Barrows,

      Bull. Nutt. Orn. Cl._ viii. p. 203 (Entrerios). +Geositta

      tenuirostris+, _White, P. Z. S._ 1882, p. 609 (Salta).

 

    _Description._--Above nearly uniform earthy brown; wing-feathers

    pale cinnamon-red; greater part of the outer webs, excepting the

    inner secondaries and a transverse bar across the secondaries,

    blackish; tail pale cinnamon-red, with a broad blackish band across

    the terminal half; beneath pale fulvous white, breast more or less

    variegated with blackish; under wing-coverts pale cinnamomeous; bill

    horn-colour, pale at the base; feet horn-colour: whole length 5·5

    inches, wing 3·5, tail 2·0. _Female_ similar.

 

_Hab._ Chili, Patagonia and Argentina.

 

The country people have a variety of names for this common and

well-known species. In Buenos Ayres it is usually called _Manea-cola_

(Shake-tail), in Patagonia _Caserita_ (Little House-builder), and in

other places _Minera_ (Miner) or _Caminante_ (Traveller), from its habit

of running rapidly along a clean road or bridle-path before a person

riding or walking.

 

It is a stout little bird, with very short toes quite unsuited for

perching, and it does not, in fact, ever perch on a tree, though it

manages to cling to a perpendicular bank very well, when engaged in

opening its breeding-hole. It is resident and pairs for life, and lives

in sterile places, feeding on small insects and spiders. In manner it

is very lively, and runs swiftly over the bare ground, stopping very

abruptly, then running on again, and at every pause slowly moving its

half-open tail up and down. It flies swiftly, close to the ground, and

always during its short flight trills out its clear, ringing, rapidly

reiterated cry, which in sound resembles the laughter of a child.

 

On the grassy pampas the Miners invariably attach themselves to the

_Vizcacheras_--as the groups of great burrows made by the large rodent,

the Vizcacha, are called; for there is always a space free from grass

surrounding the burrows where the birds can run freely about. In the

sides of the deep pit-like entrance to one of these burrows the bird

bores a cylindrical hole, from three to six feet long, and terminating

in a circular chamber. This is lined with soft dry grass, and five white

eggs are laid.

 

Though the birds inhabit the Vizcacha village all the year, they seem

always to make a fresh hole to breed in every spring, the forsaken holes

being given up to the small Swallow, _Atticora cyanoleuca_.

177. GEOBAMON RUFIPENNIS, Burm. (RED-WINGED MINER.)

 

+Geobamon rufipennis+, _Burm. La-Plata Reise_, ii. p. 465 (Paraná).

 

    _Description._--Above reddish grey-brown; lores, rim round the eye,

    cheeks, and body below white; breast tinged with yellowish grey;

    wings blackish brown, inner webs ferruginous, with their tips and

    outer basal edges pale ferruginous; tail bright ferruginous, with a

    broad black transverse band near the tip; bill black, base of under

    mandible and legs pale brown: whole length 7·0 inches, wing 4·0,

    tail 2·0.

 

_Hab._ Paraná.

 

This form is unknown to us, and we can only give a short translation of

Burmeister's description of it. It is said to resemble _Geositta_, but

has a much shorter and perfectly straight beak.